This could be the only person on Earth you'd pay to kill you.Photo by James Martin/CNET

For the right price, George R.R. Martin would be happy to kill you in some horrible manner. To be more specific, the required amount is $20,000. That's the sizable donation to worthy causes (like a crazy New Mexico wolf sanctuary) that Martin will reward by naming a character in an upcoming "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel after the donor. You can choose that character's gender and rank. He also promises that the character will meet an appropriately grisly end.

The Prizeo crowdfunding campaign benefits Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and the Food Depot of Santa Fe. Other prizes include tickets to the Season 5 premiere of " Game of Thrones," the HBO version of the novels; Martin's trademark hat; and breakfast with the man himself. Even small donors will also be entered in a drawing to win a trip to meet Martin in his hometown of Santa Fe, N.M., and then take a helicopter ride out to Wild Spirit to hang with the closest thing to direwolves in this universe.

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A few years back, I took the family out to this same wolf sanctuary for a very cool Halloween program that they do, and it's a truly remarkable place. Having been there, and knowing Martin's interest in these remarkable animals, it's easy to see why direwolves play the role that they do in "Game of Thrones."

As in the series, the rescued wolves, wolf dogs, and other animals at Wild Spirit are beautiful, graceful, and shy at first glance, but when a jack-o'-lantern filled with raw meat is tossed into the habitat at feeding time, it is instantly crushed with terrifying efficiency, just like the head of a certain character in a recent episode of the HBO series. No, I don't consider that a spoiler, given the general rate of head crushing in the series.